[bagboy]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

As it turned out, it was a pretty exciting finish with several people in the mix until the last four or five hole.

But it was still not a typical US Open in that the course was playing too easy.

I like to see players tested, especially coming down the stretch and this course really didn't provide that.

The US Open is usually played on courses with narrow fairways, long, thick rough and firm undulating greens. The USGA intends to test every aspect of the player's games. This course did not do that. It was a bomber's course and it had relatively flat greens. Of course, the rain didn't help by softening it up. As long as it was, some players said that they never hit more than a seven iron into any par four. I don't consider that testing all aspects of the game. I'd like to see players have to hit some long irons or even fairway woods to par fours. The ball and equipment have a lot to do with that but recognizing that the USGA should set up some holes that force a layup off the tee. Or holes where a player can choose to hit a driver but pay a severe penalty if they miss the fairway.

I have always felt that a well-designed golf hole should get narrower as it gets closer to the green. That way a player has the option of laying back in the wide part of the fairway and hitting a longer club or taking a risk of big trouble of the reward of hitting a shorter club into the green. This course didn't have that. The longer hitters had the same width fairway is did the shorter hitters. It was pretty much just bombs away and hit a wedge to a soft flat green.

The most surprising thing about this event was that Brian Harman was able to keep up at all.

The US Open is my favorite tournament to watch and I really look forward to it every year. I believe that it is the most difficult to win and the most difficult test of a golfer's game. And it usually tests all aspects of a player's game. This year it didn't.

All four of the majors has a different feel and the USGA is changing the feel of the US Open. It's becoming more like the PGA Championship or in this case, a lot like the Masters without the difficult greens. It's losing its uniqueness among the majors. I'd like to see them get back to what I always loved about the US Open.

You can look up future US Open venues and I think you will be satisfied with the direction they are going.